Rust underneath

Hey guys, I purchased a used Tacoma from a guy who drove it in the snow on salted roads. Rust has built up a bit underneath and I was wondering what the best way is to remove it. Should I sand it down and apply some kind of rust preventative? I live in an area where there isn't any snow on a regular basis, so the truck will not be exposed to it regularly. Any advise will be helpful. Thanks!

 

Surface rust can be sanded off. Then you need to protect the metal. Paint and primer it with a good durable paint. After the rust has been handled clean the frame regularly. If you want even more protection Fluid Film the frame one or twice a year.

 

Or you could use some Amsoil MP-HP instead of Fluid Film ( which works great, but gets dirty) and you'll be good to go.

 

Rust Cure Formula 3000

 

Just my 2 cents, I bought mine about a month ago it came from Canada, I live in arkansas, when I got it they replaced the wheels because they were so eat up, frame was a pretty awful copper color, mostly just surface rust it hadn't eaten into the frame, I used some rust remover, comes in a clear jug but is a green liquid, used a squirt bottle and applied twice. 1st spray killed 80% or so 24hrs later sprayed again and got probably another 15% maybe more. Took most of it down to the bare natal no scrubbing required. Then sprayed rustoleum primer on it twice and a nice coat of rustoleum paint on it to finish it off. Used 6 cans of primer and about 4 of paint which was just over $40 I think. Already had the rust remover but I think it was around 30 bucks from farm type store, which you have plenty of it left over, used about half a jug. Came out looking like a brand new truck underneath. Took about 6 hrs or so total over 3 days.

 

Salt up here really sucks. I wire brushed my frame last fall, and used Rustoleum paint on it. The passenger side still looks like the day I did it. Here is the driver side, pretty damn ugly and discouraging.

 

^damn son, that looks brutal!

 

hit it with a wire wheel and then spray rustoleum rust renu on it, did my frame that way 3yrs ago and its just starting to flake in places (not bad) this spring after the brutal winter we had

 

I finally decided to get underneath with the hose and clean inside the frame rails.

God, they were full of dirt and egg-sized rocks where the rails go from blocked to C channel, not good. Blasting them at the car wash seems to have kept the C channel parts clean (heck, even driving on wet roads probably washes out dirt there).

I crammed the hose in the C channel pointed toward the front and let it run for a few minutes, took care of it fine. I figure even in wintertime I can hook up the collapsing pocket hose for the task.

Edit: Actually, pointing the hose to the rear washed out some dirt/gravel from the C channel.

 

I just did the rust treating for the frame on my truck this week in prep for my sliders which should be here next week.

Overall, it was pretty light rust, mostly on the weld lines. The worst parts were the hitch and its mounts, the front facing mounts for the rear leaf springs, the front facing half of the rear differential and axle, the bump plate on the transmission. For these parts, I used a grinder with a wire brush. Wear eye, respiration and ear protection. No sense damaging yourself and protection is pretty cheap.

The leaf mounts on the axle housing are fairly rusty/dirty, but would require pretty deep disassembly to clean up propely. I plan on that in a year or two when I replace my suspension again. (OME 3" lift) Same for the front.

The exterior most bits of the cab mounts were a little rustier too but these and the rest of it I did with various wire brushes.

Then I used the rust converter for two coats on all rusty surfaces. I used the pressurized spray can variety from Locktite. No matter who you get it from, it's pretty thin stuff. I've read of people just spraying it on with a trigger pump spray bottle. Primed the parts where I removed rust and paint down to the bare metal. Then hit with a rubberized Rustoleum.

I plan to use the Eastwood Internal Frame Coating with Rust Prevention on all overlappling frame parts as well as the forward fully boxed portion of the frame. Haven't done this part yet. I'm thinking I'll do this to the hitch tubing as well.

This will probably be a yearly thing now but should be a much simpler every year going forward. I'm planning on doing this in the fall though after the summer dirt road season and before the salt and snow comes along.